I was commissioned recently by BrandArt to create a branded thank you card for a really valued member of their staff. He was leaving after 5 years with the company and the team wanted to say thank you in a more personal way. I was given a fairly open brief and just asked that I include the BrandArt logo.

Having recently taken photos of the team for their online profiles, I thought I would put their smiling faces to good use and include them in the card design. The team are a really friendly group and the phrase 'thanks a bunch!' kept popping up in my mind. I thought that phrase might sound a bit negative, so opted for the heading of 'Thank you from this bunch!! For 5 great years' and turned each member of the team into a flower to form a bunch of flowers.

I really enjoy combining imagery with a play on words, and try to keep a little humour in my work where possible. I created this design in Adobe InDesign, with a little help from Adobe Photoshop.

And how better than to do so with the Christmas eCard that I designed for Bird & Co., a boutique media & communications executive search firm based in St James's, London.

The brief was to include the client's existing logo and bird illustration with a simple and elegant design. Given Bird & Co's diverse range of clients, it was important not to focus too much on the religious elements of christmas and more to display a subtle celebration of the holiday season.

I often find that less is best. I therefore opted for a limited colour palette, using a soft tint of the clients's branded colours. I contrasted this with a vibrant and festive red to sharpen the design. I find the ornate wintry snowflake pattern in the background sets the scene nicely.

My design was mailed-out to Bird & Co's clients several weeks before christmas.

A christmas card is just the beginning, there are so many ways you can capture the interest of YOUR clients. I'm well-versed in designing promotional materials in digital and print. If you would like some inspiration and clever ideas for keeping in touch with your clients then send me a note on my contact page. I'd love to help you.

I love the high contrast of this image, it adds to the sense of drama and mystery. Just adding a bit of red to my pen and ink drawings makes a massive difference to the impact of the image. This is something that I will explore further, perhaps using pen and ink and one key colour to complement it.

Here is a vector illustration I created in Adobe Illustrator. Using my finger and the mouse pad on my laptop, I worked up various layers of shapes to create the depth in the fur. I had a photo of the dog in question in front of me and continuously checked it, to make sure I was capturing him accurately, I wouldn't want to miss out anything on his charming little face!

I create images of all sorts of people and creatures, send me a photo if you would like me to work on anything for you.

Here is the pattern inspired by my garden pickings sketch. I have created simple and playful forms based on my original sketch (which you can see in my previous blog post). I have also taken inspiration from a vintage table cloth that I have at home which has brightly coloured polka dots. I had in mind cheerful wrapping paper when I designed this pattern but I think it would suit fabric very well too and could bring a cheerful dash of colour to the home.

I'm currently reading Emma Bridgewater's book 'Pattern & the Secrets of Lasting Design'. I've got as far as the section on her Chintz, Sweet Pea and Zinnia patterns. Here she writes about drawing the flowers from her garden, and given yesterday was such a beautiful sunny day, she has inspired me to do the same! Here is a quick sketch of some petals from my garden, the next step will be to experiment with colour and pattern.... watch this space.